Dear Histonetters,
Several people have raised questions of concern about the safety of cryostat
vacuum systems. Instrumedics had the very same concerns when it developed
the Cryo-Vac-Away vacuum system for the cryostat. The Cryo-Vac-Away had a
nozzle at the blockface which suctions away trimming debris AS IT IS
GENERATED. It passes through a closed system and is finally captured in the
primary filter canister that contain both a fine and coarse filter medium.
The trimming debris is contained in the primary filter. Since the filter
canister is inside the cryostat the trimming debris freeze dries over time
which reduces the volume of the debris and keeps it porous and  prevents
clogging the filter. This makes it possible to maintain the air flow.

However, because we were concerned about the possibility that viral and
bacterial particles  might escape the trimming debris, a viral/bacterial
filter is installed  downstream of the primary filter. The manufacturer of
the filter material offers the following specs:
Bacterial Filter Efficiency (BF): 99.999+%
Viral Filtration Efficiency(FE): 99.99+%

With that Cryo-Vac-Away installed the cryostat remains virtually spotless
and the operator does not have work all day with possibly infectious
trimming inside the chamber!

We recognize that the system does not provide 100% protection, but we feel
is goes a very long way to reducing the biohazards associated with
sectioning infectious material.

If you are interested please contact us for more information.

Bernice
schiller@instrumedics.com